National Security Economics Researcher - Policy Impact

RAND; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 111,000 - 283,000; Full time

Job summary

RAND's Economics, Sociology and Statistics (ESS) department in Washington, DC seeks a National Security Economics Researcher at all career stages to contribute to policy-relevant research at the intersection of economics and national security.

The role involves analyzing how private-sector capabilities can advance strategic objectives while preserving domestic prosperity, including sanctions, export controls, and supply chains.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated training in quantitative research methods.
• Strong analytic skills and intellectual curiosity.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Ability to work effectively as a member of inclusive, multidisciplinary teams.
• Strong commitment to RAND's core values of quality and objectivity.

Responsibilities

• Design and conduct rigorous economic analyses of national security problems, including how commercial capabilities such as supply chains, financial networks, and technologies can be used to achieve strategic effects, and the secondary and tertiary consequences of doing so.
• Frame priority questions for and help convene small working groups of senior private-sector practitioners; translate government and RAND requirements into workable, unclassified formats; and distill practitioner judgment into objective, evidence-based findings.
• Produce short-form analytic products for U.S. government decisionmakers on timelines matched to the requirement alongside longer-form research on generational challenges such as cost- and benefit-sharing in national security, human capital as a strategic good, and manufacturing as a source of commercial economic power.
• Develop reusable analytic frameworks, models, and tools, including commercially informed tabletop exercises and AI-enabled capabilities for assessing economic leverage, exposure, resilience, and private-sector incentives.
• Communicate research results to national security policymakers and the public through written products and oral presentations.
• Contribute to business development efforts, including proposal writing and cultivating relationships with sponsors in the defense and national security community, as well as with private-sector partners and supporters.
• Mentor junior researchers and contribute to a collaborative, inclusive research environment.

Skills

Quantitative analysis

Economic analysis

Policy analysis

Communication

Education

PhD in economics or related field

Job description

RAND's Economics, Sociology and Statistics (ESS) department in Washington, DC seeks a National Security Economics Researcher at all career stages to contribute to policy-relevant research at the intersection of economics and national security.

The role involves analyzing how private-sector capabilities can advance strategic objectives while preserving domestic prosperity, including sanctions, export controls, and supply chains.